skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Bipartisan Effort in Congress to Restore National Parks

play audio
Play

Friday, March 16, 2018   

PORTLAND, Ore. – Bipartisan legislation in Congress could begin to relieve the $11 billion maintenance backlog in the national park system.

The National Park Restoration Act, co-sponsored by Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., would dedicate funding to infrastructure projects around the country. Last year in Oregon, deferred-maintenance costs exceeded $115 million.

That's something Jim Hammett, former superintendent for the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, understands well. He says visitation to national parks largely is reliant on dependable infrastructure – from roads and parking lots to restrooms – which is why it's important to keep them maintained.

"I certainly think that in many cases,” he says, “there is a limit in terms of how much increase in visitation that most of these parks can take based on just the infrastructure and the assets that are in those parks that are not being maintained, or brought up to current standards."

Trips to national parks have continued to increase in recent years. They saw record attendance in 2016, topping 330,000,000 visitors. That same year, visitors spent nearly $140 million in gateway communities to Oregon's six National Park Service sites.

The legislation has also garnered support from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

The National Park Restoration Act would create a fund for priority maintenance needs, using royalties from energy production on federal lands and waters. Marcia Argust with The Pew Charitable Trusts' "Restore America's Parks" project says a 2017 study commissioned by Pew found more than 110,000 jobs could be created or supported if the maintenance backlog was resolved, including more than a thousand jobs in Oregon.

Argust says the local boost to economies is one reason the bill is getting support from both sides of the aisle.

"They understand that parks preserve our history, and they understand that parks are important for the economics of local communities,” says Argust. “So, I think the outpouring of support from these voices is being heard."

Argust adds visitors nationwide have spent more than $18 billion and supported nearly 320,000 jobs in communities adjacent to national parks.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021